Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Funcinpec Lawmaker Refuses To Hand Over His Land Cruiser

Tuesday, July 25, 2006
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
By Yun Samean

Funcinpec lawmaker Monh Saphan said Monday that he is refusing to hand over a state-owned Toyota Land Cruiser assigned to him when he was chair of a National Assembly commission, despite the fact that he lost the position in April.

Monh Saphan said he is not prepared to pass the vehicle over to his successor, Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yim Sovann, who replaced him at the Assembly's commission on Home Affairs, National Defense, Investigation and Anti-Corruption, because he still needs the vehicle to visit his constituents.

"I have used the state-owned vehicle for constituents' interests," he said, claiming that lawmakers must return their vehicles only on leaving office altogether.

Yim Sovann, who on April 7 replaced Monh Saphan as chair of the commission, complained to National Assembly President Heng Samrin on July 12 that Monh Saphan had kept the commission vehicle.

"He's using the commission's car for his personal benefit" Yim Sovann said on Monday.

Monh Saphan also refused to vacate the commission chairman's office until July 17, and only did so after receiving his marching orders that day from Heng Samrin, Yim Sovann alleged. Though he vacated the office, Monh Saphan kept the car, despite receiving a letter from the CPP’s National Assembly Secretary-General Leng Penglong on June 5 asking him to return the car.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Land Cruisers allocated for the Assembly's commission chairs cost between $50,000 and $60,000. Assembly rules state that only the commission chair can use them, he added.

Monh Saphan said the Assembly should lend Yim Sovann a different car. "He should borrow a car from the National Assembly," he said.

Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, said the incident reflected a wider trend in government circles. "Lawmakers and government officials have a culture of riding in Land Cruisers," he said. They are materialistic."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come on, let's turn the car over to the next person.. Why can't you understand

Anonymous said...

Come on Monh Sophann, you are no longer entiled to have this public car anymore. You should hand it over. Please be real!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

is this a loaner car?? then re-posceess it? Obviously, if the title is not in his hand, than just take the fucking car... call the repo-man....stop making this be an issue...